foureyedbat

Endless Flight part one

A friend of mine is a hardcore yard-saler. Every Saturday summer morning he's out there at 7:30 AM with his coffee and his marked up newspaper, cruising neighborhoods. He bypasses the babyjunk sales, the piles of women's clothes and shoes sales, the sales that are in the same location every week, the sales where everything is from the 80's...he has an eye, he's on a mission, and it's an experience shopping with the guy. He's got a house full of gorgeous "mid century" modern; furniture, art, knick-knacks...but his first love is records.

He noticed that at every yard sale with records he'd always see one particular album. Intrigued, he started buying them. He told me he thought it would be cool to have an art show where every artist was given a copy of Leo Sayer's "Endless Flight" album, to see what they'd come up with. I became the first guinea pig.

Mr. Sayer has been in my studio for a few months now, waiting in his joyful suspendered leap for a little love to be thrown his way. Today, I heard the call, and began. Oh Leo. You make me feel like painting.

Frankenbeanie: Boon Tiger

From the vaults: First in a series of portraits, presenting the Boon Tiger.

There is a box of frankenbeanies somewhere in my basement waiting for their closeups. It was quite satisfying, during the Beanie Baby craze, to buy a fistful or two of the silly things, take them home, chop off their heads, and then switch the bodies. The horror on the shop ladies' faces was so satisfying: "you're going to do WHAT????? But...but...but...they won't be worth anything once you do that!"

They aren't worth anything now! People GIVE them to me to chop up. So much for that fad, and all the people who "invested" in floppy toys. Shoulda bought Microsoft.

A friend of mine has saved Beanies for years; she plans to "skin" them and cover a footstool. Another friend was talking about creating an Eeny Weenie Beanie Bikini out of the pelts. When the full ebay madness was on I thought of making a BB out of genuine US dollars, to see if they really were worth more than the original selling price, but I figured the US mint would come after me. Maybe I'll do it with representations of real US dollars. (Slightly more in Canada)

Beanies take on a whole new life once you free their heads from their designated bodies. It's very satisfying to play Beanie God, stitching away while watching something suitably ghastly on TV. Stay tuned, more Frankenbeanies to come!

Closet Helpers

I've got a bunch of those clear-ish plastic drawer sets in my closet, packed full of clothes. Time to start labeling, because it's a pain to have to dig through all of them when I want that One Thing I Need Right Now. I figured it would be more fun to draw what's in the drawers instead of just writing it, so these are my little closet helpers.

Goodbye Keith

A little illustration of a whooping crane chick with all his belongings wrapped in a dive flag, for a co-worker who is leaving for warmer waters.

Moon Monster

I've only ever lived in one place where I could see the moon from my bed, so my way of getting around that is to have lunar art on my bedroom walls. Here's a naughty little angel mistreating its devil toy, with Grandfather Moon watching... and a luna moth above them all.

I didn't even notice the leaves on the real plant look like the leaves in both paintings until I hung them up and stepped back.

Acrylic on canvas

Nostrils of Satan: Geysers of Old Faithful

I had a quiet first day of 2007; drinking tea, eating Peek Freans, and reading this great little book I picked up a while back at a Value Village in Montana. Nostrils of Satan: Geysers of Old Faithful (Creative Fundamentals Press, 1948) is a fascinating read.

I admit I bought it because I'm a sucker for books with "Satan" in the title, but this thin tome is quite informative, and raises many questions about the real geologic history of Yellowstone National Park. Apparently this little book is at the center of a controversy between "scientists" and those godly people who would rather we stay home quietly, drinking tea and eating almost flavorless cookies. The "smart" people can't even get the title right, which does make you wonder about some of the other theories they promote.

Acrylic, ink and watercolor on bound sketchbook

Xmas Blue Dog

A holiday card design from 1997.

Acrylic on paper

Body by Kool Aid

An Exquisite Torso for this guy. I just gotta put faces on everything, not realizing till I was finished that it looks like that big jug of iced Kool Aid that used to bust through walls in commercials when I was a kid. Yikes.

Triclops Kitten

Here's a head I did for an Exquisite Corpse, over on the Seven Deadly Sinners site.

Aren't you scared?
Well that's just fine!

Happy Passover!

And now for a little break from all the Easter icky...

Exodus 8:4
And the frogs shall come up both on thee, and upon thy people, and upon all thy servants.

Exodus 8:16
And the Lord said unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch out thy rod, and smite the dust of the land, that it may become lice throughout all the land of Egypt.

I guess I have 8 more plagues to illustrate...so come back next year, same blog time, same blog channel!

Exodus 8:4: ink and watercolor on paper